Breaking the Ice
by Kairi Uzeniba
Summary: The classic situation. Hinata doesn't know how to tell Naruto how she feels, and isn't even sure she wants him to know. Unfortunately, either way, Ino is going to 'help' Hinata whether she wants it or not. [1shot] [NaruHina] R&R please!


**A/N: I just felt like writing a 1shot. Especially since I've yet to write any stuff for NaruHina. Hinata is a littler OOC, but only a little. Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

**Breaking the Ice**

Hinata ran. She ran as fast as she possibly could. Even for speed at the rate of a ninja, she was running fast. People stared she ran. They didn't understand what she had to do. Or rather, what she had to prevent.

FLASHBACK

Hinata sat a small café, made especially for ninjas. Many ninjas had mission one after another, only about a few hours apart, so they didn't want to get comfortable at home before leaving again. So this café was made for them. It was also a place where genin or recently-deemed chunin came to relax.

Hinata sat nervously, occasionally sipping her miso soup. She was nervous because she didn't really want to run into anyone she knew, and a lot of the people she knew came here often.

But being in public always made Hinata a little nervous. What if something embarrassing happened to her? What if someone got in an accident? Or worse—what if she saw Naruto?

She scooted slightly when the bells on the door jangled loudly. A bleach-blond female ninja entered the room. She ordered miso soup as well. As she looked around for a good seat, she recognized Hinata. Hinata noticed her as well, and she quickly tensed up. Before Hinata could even look away, the Yamanaka was sitting across from her at the small café table.

"Ohayo! Nice morning, huh?" Ino asked happily. Hinata hesitated before responding.

"H-hai…Ohayo, Ino-chan…" Hinata stuttered. She sipped her soup nervously.

"So how have you been, Hinata?" Ino asked.

"…good…" the purple-haired kunoichi muttered. She sipped once again. "How about y-you…?"

"I'm great!" the bleach-blond kunoichi responded loudly. "Lately we've had so many missions, it's good to relax once in a while! This café is so great, they have great soup, and good teriaki beef, too! They also have a little bit of sushi, too, and it's dirt cheap! I'm so glad Tsunade-sama installed this, because it's so great to have around. I really like it. I wish they'd put it in sooner…"

And Ino talked on, and on, and on…and on…and on…

Hinata never knew someone could talk so much. She hated talking. She always thought she'd say the wrong thing. She had to separate was good to say and what was bad to say for she felt comfortable with saying anything. Apparently, Ino didn't care what was good or bad to say, because either way, she'd burst out and say it.

"…so that made Shikamaru really cranky, so Choji had to him to Ichiraku and get him ramen, and I went with them but Choji was flat broke so he forced _me _to pay!! He isn't a gentlemen, he's sort of an ass. But that cheered Shikamaru up a little bit, so we could train again and Asuma-sensei showed him a cool tip to help him improve his traditional shadow-manipulation jutsu, and that's what made him _really _happy, as far as happy goes for Shika-san. I'm fond of Shikamaru, but not as much as Sasuke. What about you?"

Hinata had to pause a moment before realizing Ino had stopped talking. "What?" Hinata began sipping a long slurp of soup.

"Who do you like? You know, a guy, is there any guy who catches your eye, ya know?"

Hinata spat soup all of the table, and the bowl clattered to the floor. People all around stared. Hinata quickly began to clean up the mess. Her cheeks flushed. This was exactly why she was nervous in public; embarrassing moments.

"Geez, Hinata, what's up with you? I just asked who you—"

A small slip of paper fell out of Hinata's pocket as she was cleaning the floor. The shy kunoichi didn't notice. When she turned around to clean up a different section of the floor, Ino gingerly grabbed the small slip of paper. As Ino examined it, she realized it wasn't really a paper at all, but a picture, a photograph.

When Hinata was done cleaning the floor, she noticed Ino smiling maliciously at the piece of paper. Hinata looked at the paper herself, and recognized it as the photo of Naruto she kept in her pocket. She blushed even redder than before.

"Naruto, huh?" Ino said slyly.

"Uh…that isn't-t m-mine, Ino…" Hinata stuttered.

"Too bad it fell out of your pocket, then, hm?" Ino said, knowing she had the conversation in the bag.

Hinata was silent with defeat.

"Don't worry, Hinata, he's a very kind-hearted person. He may be reckless, stupid, and dense, but he's still—"

"He's not st-stupid…" Hinata interrupted quietly but bravely, not standing Ino insulting him. "He's not that reckless…he's kind of l-loud, but so are y-you…and he isn't stupid, he, um, just sort of speaks h-his mind-d…"

Ino paused. For Hinata, this was like entering a rock star competition, almost.

"Look, Hinata-chan, I can break the ice for you. I can quietly slip the news to Naruto, and we'll see what happens," Ino suggested.

"No! Ino please don't—"

"I think it's the right thing to do," Ino interrupted, ignoring Hinata's protest. Ino was out of the café before Hinata could argue.

END OF FLASHBACK

Hinata had been running for 10 minutes straight, and she was getting tired.

_Naruto-kun might already know by now…why'd Ino do that? _the Hyuuga thought.

Hinata rounded a corner, only to slam into a familiar face.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata looked up to see her teammate.

"Kiba-kun…" Hinata said. "I'm sorry, I'm in a rush…I think I might n-need your help, too…"

"What for?" the dog-master questioned.

"I need to find Naruto. Does Akamaru know his scent?" Hinata asked.

"Um, I think so…" Kiba replied, taking Akamaru out of his shirt. "He knows the scents of most people I've come in contact with, so he must know…but he needs something to recognize him by. Something like a comb, a piece of clothing, you know. Anything with Naruto's basic scent."

Hinata scavenged through her pockets. She sheepishly held out a small tuft of bright yellow hair. Kiba looked confused, but when he saw the look of desparation on Hinata's face, he handed Akamaru to her.

"Let him smell the hair, then he'll take you where you need to go," Kiba instructed. "But hurry, I want him back soon."

"Arigato, Kiba-kun!" she shouted as she ran.

When he saw Hinata rush off, he didn't think hurrying would be the problem.

Hinata put the small tuft of hair up to Akamaru's nose.

"Akamaru, can you take me to him?" Hinata asked.

As the small white dog recognized the scent, he barked affirmatively. Hinata set him on the ground, and the dog ran eagerly, Hinata following.

Ino walked up to Naruto.

"Konichiwa, Naruto-kun!" she greeted. Naruto turned around.

"Uh, konichiwa, Ino-chan." Naruto replied.

Just as Ino was about to start talking, Hinata and Akamaru burst through a nearby street.

"Ino, please don't tell him!" Hinata yelled.

There was an awkward pause. Ino slowly backed a way, as if saying 'You're on your own now.'

"Don't tell me what, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked. Hinata began blushing.

"Um, nothing. Nothing at all." she replied nervously.

"Come on, Hinata! Please tell me! I'll follow you around if you don't." Naruto begged.

Hinata began running, Akamaru on her shoulder. Naruto followed.

"Please Hinata! I'm really curious!"

Hinata smiled as she ran.

_It's nice to have him follow me for once, _Hinata thought happily.

**A/N: Aw, a cute ending. Sorry for making Hinata sort of OOC. I won't be continuing this, either. Please review!!**


End file.
